Film

The Polka King

Name: The Polka King
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2017
Cast: Jack Black, Jenny Slate, Jason Schwartzman, Jacki Weaver, JB Smoove

Comedy

Jack Black plays Jan Lewan, a real-life polka musician who built a devoted following in Pennsylvania, then committed investment fraud. It's a comedy about delusion, ambition, and small-town stardom, mixing affection for its characters with the wreckage they create. Warm but never soft.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like comedy built on a sincere, oblivious small-town showman whose self-belief outruns his judgment, and Jack Black playing that man's big-hearted vanity without winking.

Skip it if you need fast, tightly plotted comedy, since this drifts through its polka-hall setting at an easygoing pace and leans on awkward, cringe-heavy humour.

What it asks of you: It asks for patience with a loose, meandering shape and a tone that stays deadpan even as the characters make poor choices, across about ninety-five minutes.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Fyre2019

Documents a similar con—ambitious dreamer promises the impossible, dupes believers, crashes spectacularly. Same mix of charm and recklessness, but with higher stakes and more money.

But It's a documentary, so it's observed rather than performed. Less funny, more depressing in the final act.

The Wolf of Wall Street2013

Leo DiCaprio as another charismatic fraudster who seduces people into schemes. Scorsese treats it as dark comedy—the con is the engine, the pleasure is watching it unwind.

But Nearly three hours of excess and cocaine. Brutally cynical about everyone involved, including the audience.

The Happiness of the Katakuris2002

Takashi Miike's bizarre comedy about a family running a failed business and their desperate schemes. Musical numbers, corpses, deadpan absurdity—the tone is completely unhinged in a liberating way.

But Genuinely strange. The tonal whiplash from comedy to horror to song-and-dance is intentional, which doesn't mean it lands.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Polka King

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Synecdoche, New York2008

Both are about men whose sense of self-importance becomes indistinguishable from fraud—not because they're conscious liars, but because they've made the lie real in their own minds.

Charlie Kaufman's film about a theater director whose ambitions consume everything around him. Like Jan Lewan, he's a small-time operator who believes he deserves to be huge, and it destroys him.

But Deliberately obscure and formally difficult. Metaphorical rather than clear. Will frustrate you if you want straightforward storytelling.

The Righteous Gemstones2019

Danny McBride's series about a televangelist dynasty hiding massive crimes. Loud, furious, funny—it's about people who believe their own hype until reality crashes in.

But Very long (seasons are 10+ hours). McBride's style is abrasive and won't soften as you go deeper.

American Hustle2013

Con artists dressed as respectable people. David O. Russell makes the deception glitzy and fun, and the cast (Bale, Adams, Cooper) commits to the bit completely.

But Style over substance—the plot is secondary to the costumes and music. Some find it shallow.

The Dropout2022

Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, founder of a fraudulent blood-testing company. Meticulous about how ambition plus delusion produces disaster. Respectful without being soft.

But Very grim by the end. The con is less funny than tragic once you see the human cost.

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical2022

Not a con, but a film musical about outsiders beating the system through wit and tenacity. Same underdog energy, same warmth, totally different register. Rhyle choreography, genuine joy.

But It's a kids' movie, and if that's not your door, nothing here will change your mind.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

Maggie Sinclair lived as a man in the Old West to survive. It's a true-crime biography about reinvention and small-town mythology. Oddly tender about deception.

But Very quiet, very slow. The stakes don't feel as immediate as in flashier films.

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley2019

HBO documentary about Elizabeth Holmes again, but from the other angle—focused on the psychology of the lie, the architecture of the scam. Furious and precise.

But If you've seen The Dropout, this covers much the same ground with less emotional investment.

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley poster

Glengarry Glen Ross1992

Both explore how people rationalize fraud as ambition. But where Jan Lewan is small and almost sympathetic, these men are already poisoned by the system.

Mamet's play (performed here with the full cast) about salesmen destroying each other. It's about the con as a way of life, the performative self as survival. Brutal and hypnotic.

But Claustrophobic, all dialogue, no mercy. The realism is grinding rather than comic.